Discreetly
by Beckon
Summary: She snaps a picture of his scars, white and faded in the dim light.


A low groan escaped her as the sound of a resilient alarm stirred her from her sleep.

Reluctantly rolling over, Sonya blindly reached for the loudly beeping phone that vibrated across the bedside table next to her. Tired fingers fumbled and nearly knocked it to the floor instead in her attempts to grab it.

She barely managed to snag the device before she had completely knocked it out of reach, and quickly shut the alarm off without looking at the screen.

...

Somehow, she found it much easier to deal with a normal alarm clock rather than the half-assed one on her phone.

But she had decided to stay over at Kenshi's place the night before, and since he wasn't scheduled to come in until much later that day... she didn't want to wake him prematurely. He needed the sleep- especially since she had him running all of their recovery missions as of lately; he was damn good at the job, but the missions themselves could be tedious and exhausting at times.

It didn't help that this was also the first time in three days that he had slept for longer than two hours.

Moving onto her back, Sonya rubbed her eyes with one hand while the other slowly unlocked her phone. Once her eyesight had adjusted from sleep and to the limited light in the room, she began checking for any missed calls or messages that had come in during the night. And as usual, there were a couple of new emails she would need to answer soon, but they weren't of much importance- just questions from Budgeting.

Her schedule was pretty light for once, and if there was no one demanding her urgent attention..., she could get away with showing up to base an hour later than normal.

Sonya doubted that she would, but it was always a nice thought.

The base was still in a mess after the whole Shinnok ordeal, and there were a lot of things she still needed to fix- and quite a few things she needed to replace altogether. Hence why Budgeting was on her ass this morning. She guessed all of those order forms she had pushed for finally went through- and apparently Budgeting wanted to fight her over every little cent for the entire processing stage.

Which, quite frankly, was a huge annoyance for her.

She had enough things to deal with.

She had more important things to deal with rather than a couple of forms that would be like a drop of a dime in the Special Force's budget.

Sighing, Sonya tried to convince herself that she needed to get up and get going, but... it wasn't working out that well for her. Normally it was routine that the moment she hit consciousness, she was dressed and out the door, ready to get the day going. But this morning was proving to be different- and rather difficult as well. Maybe all those late nights she had pulled earlier this week had finally caught up to her.

...

Rather than try to figure out a solution, she instead looked over at her sleeping partner.

Kenshi was sleeping flat on his back with one arm draped over his face.

Sonya didn't know how he comfortably slept like that- but she'd be damned if he didn't look perfectly content with it. Smiling lightly at the sight, she watched him for a few seconds longer, and watched as his fingertips involuntarily twitched from time to time. If she was lucky, she might catch him using his telekinesis abilities in his sleep. It was a rare feat, and Kenshi somewhat denied that it happened- but she had personally witnessed it a small handful of times before; and it wasn't like he would directly go against her word about it, but he certainly wouldn't admit to it either.

Turning herself to face him now, Sonya propped herself up on her right arm and continued to watch him- taking note of how his chest lifted with every breath.

He was strangely addicting to watch- both when he was conscious and asleep.

Something about him was just... so intriguing to the eye, and she wasn't classifying his good luck as being a part of that.

Her phone pinged once more at a newly arrived email, and Sonya battled on whether she wanted to check it or not. Half-pushing herself up into a seated position, she leaned back against the headboard and reluctantly checked to see who it was from; she silently groaned as it was yet another batted response from Budgeting. Christ, couldn't they give her ten minutes of quiet? Would it hurt for them to get off her ass for just a short while?

They knew she would reply to them when she could; it wasn't like she had made a habit out of ignoring them- even though she had wanted to in certain situations.

This certainly being one of them.

She would reply to them when she got to her office- and not a moment sooner.

Backing out of her email, Sonya quit to her home screen a little too quickly and hit one of the other programs on her phone by mistake. She blamed it on the early hour and her rush to forget about Budgeting and their pain-in-the-ass technique of getting on her nerves.

She watched as her phone's camera popped open and filled the screen with a close-up shot of the wrinkled sheets underneath her.

...

Shit, she didn't even know this phone had a camera on it.

She usually just paid attention to her never-ending stream of emails and the occasional missed phone call.

Without even thinking, Sonya angled the phone so that it partially caught Kenshi in-frame... and then slowly corrected it until he was completely in view of the camera. It didn't even occur to her what she was doing at first; she just found herself trying to find the right angle so the camera wouldn't catch a glare from the sun coming in through the semi-open blinds.

It felt...

It almost felt like an old habit.

... Then again, she used to take pictures all the time, didn't she?

...

Those memories felt like they were centuries old now.

She remembered waking up before Johnny did, which was all the time actually; and she remembered being so enamored by his odd sleeping poses that she would snap a few pictures for memories- and blackmail. He was such an A-lister and so high-maintenance that he wouldn't leave the house until his hair was perfect, and he looked nothing short of a million bucks. He used to tease and say he'd like to aim for a billion, but she had always retorted and said she barely had time to wait for his million dollar look to be finished; there was no way in Hell she was going to wait longer than that.

But she had pictures of his hair in a dirty-blonde mess- even some showing off his darker roots.

And pictures that made him look like a mere hundred dollars compared to his trademark million.

...

Johnny would wake up groggy, half-sleeping but still laughing- telling her that he better not see her selling those to the paparazzi.

And she would tell him that he better not mess up with her then, or else she would have more revenge money than he could ever dream of.

...

Sonya was also pretty certain that she had documented every single day of Cassie's life for the first five or six years.

She was always snapping pictures of Cassie- from the first moment she held her in the hospital, to the day they brought her home, to when she first started walking... She had stacks of photo albums stored away that consisted only of Cassie, documenting every milestone, every birthday, and just... every day things; it was no wonder the girl had such a familiar habit of constantly posting pictures to her social media page.

Hell, it was probably a good thing they didn't have something like that twenty-five years ago, or else she would've been the same way.

It had been a harmless hobby that was eventually abandoned with the years... It was buried and suffocated underneath the call to duty.

Her first deployment had killed it.

Just as it had with many other things...

...

Sonya heard the camera go off before she realized she had even hit the snap button.

Before she knew it, the image of Kenshi flat on his back with his arm draped over his face was burned into her phone.

And it felt... stupidly good.

She took a second picture to keep the feeling, and then a third as well, before Kenshi gave a subtle groan and slowly dropped his arm; he dragged the back of his hand across his eyes as he did so.

Sonya snapped an image of his scars, white and faded in the dim light.

And then she snapped again- catching the brief glow of blue as his eyes slowly pulled open. Sonya often wondered if he did so out of long-lost habit, or maybe if he did it out of courtesy when she was around. There had been some mornings where he had caught her by surprise by speaking before his eyes were opened- having fooled her into thinking he was still asleep the entire time.

"What are you doing?" Kenshi whispered; his voice heavy with sleep.

There was an appeal in hearing his youthful voice sound rough and jagged when he woke.

"Checking emails," Sonya lied, watching and waiting as he rubbed at his jaw with one hand, before he lightly scratched at his neck; she managed to snap a picture of that as well, catching the way his fingers curled against the curve of his throat. "Budgeting is up my ass already over all of those orders I had pushed for last week."

Kenshi gave a light, tired chuckle in response. "Well, there's the reason. You know they don't like you spending their money," he replied, as he gave into a brief stretch before he reached over and rested his hand against her bare thigh; the curve of her leg fitted well underneath his palm. "Are you leaving already?"

Sonya hated when he asked her that.

Because whenever they found time like this, she found herself not wanting to leave him- especially not for work.

"Haven't decided yet," she answered, as she set her phone aside for the moment and stretched her legs out in front of her. Shifting her position, she turned to rest on her hip so that her body was turned towards him once more; she felt his hand move with her, before it shifted higher up against her thigh. "I could swing another hour, maybe two, if I can get Budgeting off my back."

"I don't know, they're pretty serious when it comes to the SF wallet," he remarked- stifling a brief yawn now, before he pulled himself into a second stretch. "It might be easier to just deal with them now- or else they'll just keep harassing you."

Sonya watched as he turned and rolled himself towards her, resting his upper body against her legs while one arm draped over her thigh. He was incredibly warm against her, and she could feel the way he slowly shifted to better fit himself to her. A brief smile caught onto her as she felt the slight weight of his head against her hip, and felt his fingers curl lazily against the back of her legs; she felt fingertips slowly move in a small, circular pattern over her skin.

Fingers gently brushed through his messy, dark hair, and barely managed to smooth it back away from his face- revealing his pale scars for a second time.

She quietly retrieved her phone once more, and saved the image of his upper body entangled with her legs- saving the image of his scarred face half-buried in her white tank-top.

"What was that?"

"Just a notification," Sonya replied- knowing well that he would eventually catch onto her. She figured he'd either use his telekinesis powers to 'see' her being up to something, or he'd use his telepathic ones to read what she was thinking and figure it all out from there. However, because of the early morning hour, and his reluctance to stay awake, he relied on his enhanced hearing instead- which she hadn't exactly counted on. All he did was simply hear the small click of her phone camera going off. "Looks like Cassie and her team are having fun in Outworld again."

Kenshi nodded briefly, completely trusting her answer, which made it a little hard to swallow- although it wasn't like she was doing anything drastic or serious; she was just... enjoying herself a little bit.

And it wasn't a complete lie- she had actually gotten a notification from Cassie's Friendship page a few hours earlier.

All it had been was a blurred picture though, like something taken in the midst of running away.

"There wasn't another 'incident' like last time, was there?" Kenshi asked.

"Thankfully no, but... they all swear they saw someone with a machete standing in the Kuatan Jungle with them," Sonya answered. "Again."

"Maybe it's that guy Stryker's been looking for."

She gave a soft chuckle and continued to brush her fingers through his hair- hearing him give a relaxed sigh in response as he fell heavier against her now. "Well you know, Stryker did say he'd be happy to help out with the SF whenever he could- or whenever we needed him to. It wouldn't be a bad idea to have him go with the kids next time," Sonya mused.

"They'll treat him like a chaperone," Kenshi remarked.

"He used to escort school kids all the time- this won't be any different."

Kenshi gave her a brief laugh, before he moved his hand to her hip and lightly squeezed it. "I feel like we should be more concerned about the things they see in Outworld- especially considering their first encounter with the Leech-Snake from their last outpost mission."

"Eh, maybe," she replied with a slight shrug. "But Cassie's been bragging non-stop about her battle with Shinnok recently, so I think she can handle someone with a simple machete. I can- and I have- and in this line of work, she'll need to get used to all sorts of weapons coming at her. As for the Leech-Snake incident, well... anyone who's been to the Kuatan Jungle has had an encounter with one; you and I both have. But... I have to admit that was the first time I've seen anyone react to a bite like that. They healed up fine though, and have been properly vaccinated this time, so what's the worry?"

"You might be right, General."

"I might be?" Sonya shortly scoffed- drawing another amused chuckle out of him.

His hand slowly started to move from her hip to her thigh and back again in light strokes- running the curve of his palm against her bare skin. Where she liked to run her fingers through his hair, he liked to run his hand along her legs. He had told her before that it helped to wake up his senses and keep his sense of touch refreshed since he usually numbed it underneath thick gloves; she told him that he used that as an excuse to touch her, which she didn't mind.

"I'm sure they'll be fine," he started, "they've handled everything so far and have come out alive."

"Thankfully. We're all a little to old to restart our bloodlines if something happens," Sonya replied, before she heard her phone go off once more. She didn't need to check to see who it was- she already knew- but she did so anyways. And she gave a frustrated sigh at the tenth email in a row that Budgeting had sent her in the past two hours alone. "I should email them back and tell them to suck it up."

He laughed at her response. "You know, I know you don't want to, but the sooner you deal with them, the sooner they'll get off your back."

"Until they can think of something else to pester me about," she muttered, as she tossed her phone behind her now- hoping it would make it easier for her to ignore. "But you do have a point I do need those order forms processed and shipped as soon as possible, and Budgeting will just keep dragging the process down until I acknowledge them." she moved her hand to brush through her blonde hair now- pushing the loose strands from her face. Tilting her head back against the headboard, she looked down to where he was now resting a majority of his body against her; he had slipped one arm underneath her, and had his hand loosely pressed against the center of her back, while the other continued to rub at her thigh. She smiled once more at the sight, no doubt figuring that he was well on his way to falling back asleep. "Eager for me to leave?"

Kenshi gave a slight shrug, and stifled another yawn. "I figured you'll get in a fight with Budgeting, and then someone's going to call me to come in and handle you, so... I'd rather just get that part of it over with as soon as possible."

Sonya snorted and used her knee to lightly push him back, or at least attempt to- which drew out a brief laugh from him. "They would not. And even if they did, you couldn't stop me."

"I'm not there to stop you- I'm just there to slow you down."

"Oh please," she retorted, "as if you could slow me down either."

He chuckled and wrapped both of his arms around her now, pulling her in against him. "I seem to be doing just that right now, so... what's your excuse, General?"

She didn't want to give in and laugh, but she did; and it felt good. "You know, speaking of excuses...," Sonya started, as one hand reached back behind her and snagged her phone once more. The camera was still open, so all she had to do was take a quick snap of the way he had her firmly locked in his arms. "I think I just found mine to send to Budgeting to explain my late response."

"Did you just take a picture?"

"Something like that," she shrugged, as she admired the quickly taken photo. "I think it will be... an adequate enough excuse- at the very least, I probably won't be hearing back from them for awhile."

Kenshi laughed and reached up to grab her phone- to which she barely managed to pull it out of his reach; which was rather useless to do, as he simply telekinesis'd it out of her grasp seconds later. "One could consider that leading to blackmail," he remarked.

"That would imply that I have a need to hold something against you," Sonya replied, "which isn't the case... as long as you don't screw up."

"Says the woman who's actively avoiding answering a single email," he retorted.

"Yes well, Budgeting can kiss my ass."


End file.
